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Following the resignation of Labour MP Tristram Hunt in Stoke-on-Trent, UKIP announced yesterday (21st January) that new party leader, Paul Nuttall MEP, will be our candidate in the subsequent byelection.

The seat is historically a Labour stronghold but their majority was down to 5000 at the 2015 General Election and, significantly, it registered one of the highest Leave votes at last year’s referendum.

The poor turnout at the General Election (Just 49%) shows how disillusioned local voters are with the party that has represented them in the past.

If Labour lose this seat (Plus the other byelection in Copeland, another former stronghold with an even slimmer majority) then Labour could be consigned to a spot in a museum similar to the one that Mr Hunt has left his constituency to take up a post with.

With this in mind, it was no surprise to see Labour Shadow Chancellor and my old sparring partner, John McDonnell, go on the offensive during this morning’s Marr Show on the BBC. However, both his body language and his line of attack show why the Labour High Command are terrified of the UKIP challenge in the seat and must be contemplating the possibility of an embarrassing defeat.

Spin, smear and downright lies

Once again, McDonnell trotted out the standard lie about UKIP wanting to privatise the NHS – this has never been a part of any UKIP manifesto.

Paul Nuttall spoke a number of years ago about making the procurement arm of the NHS more competitive – common sense when we see some trusts paying £25 for a lightbulb and issuing costly prescriptions for painkillers that you can buy for as little as 30p at the pharmacy. Yet in Labour’s eyes, this is ‘privatisation’.

I received the following earlier today from our London MEP, Gerard Batten, regarding the shadowy Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)

You recently wrote to me about your concerns about TTIP. I was pleased to tell you that I will be voting against this treaty when this comes before the European Parliament, and I would now like to update you on the latest situation.

On Wednesday 9th September Jean-Claude Juncker, President of European Commission, gave his annual State of the Union speech to European Parliament.

In his speech Mr Juncker referred to TTIP and said unequivocally that he was “in favour of the TTIP treaty”. I felt that you should be aware that this was his, and the European Commission’s position.

Mr Juncker further remarked that that we wanted “international representation for the euro-zone” on such bodies as the “Bretton Woods Institute and the International Monetary Fund”. He said that he wanted a “single representation by the European Union” on these bodies.

While the UK is not part of the euro-zone, his remarks demonstrate the EU’s ambitions to replace national representation on international bodies still further, thereby further reducing the democratic accountability of national governments to their electorates’.

The Conservative Government today launched a policy making it clear that any non EU migrant working in the UK would have to earn over £35k per annum within six years of arriving in the UK or face deportation.

Commenting on the news, UKIP Hillingdon Chairman and spokesman for the Hayes & Harlington constituency, Cliff Dixon, stated, “There are many people working within our NHS doing vital jobs that pay far less than the threshold at which the Government is setting these new regulations.

During the recent General Election campaign, I pointed out how the NHS is having difficulty recruiting trained technicians for research in to infectious diseases at a number of our top hospitals, including The Royal Free which is leading the fight against Ebola. They are losing out under current rules where those much needed professionals are going instead to Australia, Canada and the USA. Now they will be faced with the reality of losing the technicians they already have with an inability to replace them from within our current talent pool in the UK.

Our own hospital at Hillingdon, already stretched for staff to the extent that they had to spend over £1 million in the final quarter of last year on agency nurses, will see even more shortages that will result in further overspend to bring in temporary workers from the private sector”

Once again, the government ignores the real problem of unlimited, uncontrolled migration from EU member states at the expense of trained professionals from the rest of the world.

Sent to me by an old friend and customer – Laughter is the best medicine of all!

The Royal College of Nursing has weighed in on Prime Minister David Cameron’s health care proposals for the National Health Service.

The Allergists voted to scratch it, but theDermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.
The Gastroenterologists had a sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve.
The Obstetricians felt they were all labouring under a misconception.
Ophthalmologists considered the idea short-sighted. Pathologists yelled, “Over my dead body!” while the Paediatricians said, “Oh, Grow up.”
The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could see right through it.
The Surgeons were fed up with the cuts and decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.
The Ear Nose and Throat specialists didn’t swallow it, and just wouldn’t hear of it.
The Pharmacists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the
Plastic Surgeons said, “This puts a whole new face on the matter….”
The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the
Urologists were pissed off at the whole idea.
The Anaesthetists thought the whole idea was a gas, but the
Cardiologists didn’t have the heart to say no.
In the end, the Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up to the arseholes in Whitehall.

During the recent General Election campaign, I was asked a very good question at the Hayes & Harlington hustings – “With the debate on immigration being driven by negativity, how can we turn immigration from a negative back to being a positive?”

My answer was fairly detailed, but a part of it was reported in some media quarters as ‘silencing the room’ and by some on Twitter as being ‘disgusting’, so with the events of the last week I wish to put the record straight.

The answer, quite simply, is by regaining control of our borders so we can monitor both the quality and quantity of those wishing to come to the UK.

When I was growing up in the seventies and eighties, immigration was running at levels far below those of today. Moreover, before the advent of the European Union in its current form, we had the ability to say who we would and wouldn’t accept in to our country. Because of this, those coming here were predominantly looking to build a better life for themselves through hard work, skill set and integration. In my reply, I pointed to the Ugandan Asians who fled from Idi Amin as a great example of positive immigration, people who have settled and brought with them a tremendous work ethic that has benefitted both our country and their families who are now second and third generation Britons.

The NHS also benefited from immigration in the seventies, with gaps in the service being filled by newcomers taking up positions that we couldn’t fill from our own pool of workers.

I recently received your letter to residents announcing your intention to stand again for the Hayes & Harlington constituency in the General Election.

In your letter, you raise the issues of the NHS and the local housing crisis – Both are extremely important issues and you are quite right to highlight them.

Having read the letter, I would like to raise the following points.

1 – The NHS

You state that you fear a Conservative win at the next General Election will lead to the NHS being privatised and sold off. Whilst I share that fear, you appear to overlook the fact that your party (Labour) in government started the privatisation of the NHS and indeed introduced more privatisation to the service than the Coalition have done since taking power in 2010.

A recent Care Quality Commission report showed that our local hospital is failing in certain areas, and issued two warning notices including one for safety.

Amongst the services rated as ‘requiring improvement’ were A&E, medical care, surgery, critical care, maternity and family planning, children’s care, end of life care and outpatient services. Subsequent to the inspection, A&E waiting time targets were also reported as being missed in this article from local Gazette Reporter, Will Ackerman